taklamakan desert map ancient china：Taklamakan Desert

Desert in Xinjiang, China

The Taklamakan Desert ( TAK-lə-mə-KAN) is a desert in northwest Chinas Xinjiang region. Located inside the Tarim Basin in Southern Xinjiang, it is bounded by the Kunlun Mountains to the south, the Pamir Mountains to the west, the Tian Shan range to the north, and the Gobi Desert to the east.

While most researchers agree on makan being the Persian word for "place", etymology of Takla is less clear. The word may be a Uyghur borrowing of the Persian tark, "to leave alone/out/behind, relinquish, abandon" + makan.[1][2] “Takla” also means “bald” in Hindi/urdu, so it translates to “bald land” meaning land with no vegetation.[citation needed] Another plausible explanation suggests it is derived from Turki taqlar makan, describing "the place of ruins".[3][4] Chinese scholars Wang Guowei and Huang Wenbi linked the name to the Tocharians, a historical people of the Tarim Basin, making the meaning of "Taklamakan" similar to "Tocharistan".[5] Accordin...